We’ve all been learning to live more of ‘the good life’ over the past few months but it’s something that comes as second nature to Dame Penelope Keith, who likes nothing better than growing and weeding in the great Surrey outdoors. At 80, she is still having fun on stage and screen and in her English country garden at home in Milford.
Penelope has been a TV and stage star for several decades but in Surrey she is also very well-known for her energetic support of the National Trust, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, as well as the Surrey Hills Society, of which she is patron.
And those are just two of her many activities. Margo Leadbetter would be proud.
“I have never separated from Margo of The Good Life and I still get letters from people who watched the show when they were very young and have grown up and seen it again years later,” she says of the much-loved sitcom about a self-sufficient couple in Surbiton, first televised in 1975. “They write to say how much they still enjoy it and so do their children and even grandchildren. It’s lovely to hear that, although it could start to make me feel old, if I let it. I don’t though.”
Still very active both in front of the cameras and away from her work, Penelope may seem similar to her Good Life alter-ego, as well as her character in To The Manor Born, Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton, but life has not always been like that for her. Penelope was born in Sutton, about six months after the outbreak of World War II. Her father was an army officer but he and her mother, Connie, split up while Penelope was still little more than a baby.
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Denne historien er fra July 2020-utgaven av Surrey Life.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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The House That Rocks
Transforming an impressive, seven-bedroom Victorian property in Dorking wasn’t without its challenges, but the result is a stunning family home that has had the interiors world raving
REMEDY FOR SUCCESS
Surrey’s Tracy Borman discusses the return of her heroine healer in the final book of her best-selling fictional trilogy
Love Celia
Actress Celia Imrie has travelled the world for work and leisure but wherever she goes there is a part of her which is forever Surrey
EXHIBITION OF THE MONTH
Art & Action: Making Change in Victorian Britain at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton focuses on the Victorian roots of art activism
Electric dreams
The Range Rover plug-in hybrid brings silent electric motoring to this iconic luxury car
THE OPEN ROAD
Chris Pickering rounds up some of the best drives in Surrey
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Oxted & Limpsfield
With the North Downs looming nearby and glorious countryside surrounding it, Oxted is a town with real “escape from London” appeal and character, while nearby Limpsfield has a superb village vibe with its own community-run pub
Artist to the stars
Known as ‘The Face of Modern British Impressionism’, Mickleham-based Sherree Valentine Daines is celebrating four decades at the forefront of her field
A RIGHT ROYAL WELCOME
The Signet Collection’s inaugural hotel project is a reimagining of a former royal guest house, situated directly opposite Hampton Court Palace
TOWN AND COUNTRY: Godalming & Hascombe
On the banks of the River Wey, Godalming is a watercolour pretty town surrounded by pristine countryside and in-demand rural villages, such as Hascombe